Henri Maria Dymphna André Laurent "Rik" Torfs (born 16 October 1956) is a Belgian canon law scholar and media personality. He is a former Senator for the Christian Democratic and Flemish party in the Belgian Federal Parliament and a former Rector of the Catholic University of Leuven. Education and academic career He attended the and studied law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the University of Strasbourg. He specialized in ecclesiastical or canon law. He received his JCD in 1987 with a dissertation on the canonical concept of marriage. In 1988, Torfs became assistant professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He became full-time professor in 1996. From 1994 to 2003 and 2009 to 2013, he served as Dean of the Faculty. He is a guest professor at the University of Stellenbosch, University of Paris, University of Nijmegen, and University of Strasbourg. Torfs also serves on the academic advisory board for the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University and is a member of the board of experts at International Religious Liberty Association. He is a former president and board member of the European Consortium for Church and State Research and founder and board member of the Working Group Nederlandstalige Canonisten (Dutch-speaking Canonists). He became a member of the Commission for Intercultural dialogue in 2005, the Commissie ter invulling van de cursus maatschappelijke oriëntatie in 2006, and Les Assises de l’Interculturalité in 2009. He serves as an advisor to the government of Romania regarding the protection of religious minorities. In 2005 Torfs ran for rector at KU Leuven, losing to Marc Vervenne. Vervenne could not serve a second term, and in 2008 Torfs announced he would not run for office in 2009. In 2013 he stepped down from politics and did participate in the election for Rector of KU Leuven. In On 17 May 2013, he was elected Rector after obtaining a majority of the votes in the second round. He assumed office on 1 August 2013. Journalism and media Torfs has widely commented on matters related to the Catholic Church. In 1994, he appealed to bishops to use their ius remonstrandi to protest the papal letter ordinatio sacerdotalis which wanted to close the debate on allowing women into priesthood. He subsequently became one of the panel members of the show Canvas from 2002 to 2003. He began a column in